Collecting Alan Moore's SUPREME

[daBronzeBomma]

I've long been intrigued by Alan Moore's interpretation of Rob Liefeld's Superman-pastiche Supreme. From everything I've heard, it's basically a non-ironic love letter to the Silver/Bronze Age versions of Superman. After a lot of hemming and hawing, I've decided to undertake the purchasing of Alan Moore's Supreme.

There's just one problem: What is up with the collected editions??

My understanding is that there are two collections, STORY OF THE YEAR and THE RETURN, that hold (most of?) the entirety of Alan Moore's run.

Yet I've heard nothing but bad things about the production value of these two Supreme TPBs. Poor paper quality, ink comes off certain pages. Real horrorshow stuff from a collector's perspective. Also, I've heard the art itself is wildly inconsistent from great to bad.

Are there other better editions I'm not aware of? Or a new edition coming out in the foreseeable future? Who is the publisher of Supreme (seen conflicting info)? The online prices for the TPBs also vary wildly.

Should I just pony up and try to hunt down the individual issues (my current LCS doesn't carry either tpb nor the issues), even though that may cost more and will definitely be harder to acquire? How many individual issues of Alan Moore's SUPREME are there in total? How much money would this endeavor potentially cost me?

[Dark-Flux]

Moore wrote Supreme 41-56 and The Return 1-6. This was an incomplete mini that had another 2 issues to go before Awesome/Maximum folded. In 2012 Supreme 63 was published using Moores last completed script, Erik Larsen then took over with 64.

The Checker trades collect 41-56 & The Return 1-6.

Its really up to you wether youd rather pay less for less quality or more for the issues.
I dont believe theres any plans for a reprint of the Moore stuff. Not sure on the rights situation.

[dbngaa]

I've had both, single issues and trades, and the trades are very hard to look at. They're readable, but it looks like it was printed by a cheap inkjet printer around 1997. The art itself is a mixed bag, but once Chris Sprouse shows up it is mostly excellent. I really like the series and would love for a cleaned up collection to one day materialize. I'm not holding my breath though.

[FanboyStranger]

It was the Checker editions of Story of the Year that had the bad printings. (I know because I own one.) The modern story pages are a mess, but the Rick Veitch pages are fine. I think they sent out a corrected edition, but I've never seen one.

There was no problem with The Return. (I own this, too.)

I don't think it's a rights issue preventing a reprint (unless the issue is with Checker), but that Moore and Veitch were unhappy with Liefeld when he did not return Rick's art to him.

[Diamond]

For what's worth, there is a very recent Spanish collection of Supreme, so there should be no rights issues, I think.

[Mixmaster]

The Checker trade paperbacks aren't as bad as everyone would have you believe. I've got both and I really enjoyed them. I also bought the two in hardcover. From what I understand, there were less than 200 printed of The Story of The Year and just a few more than that printed of The Return. The books were solicited and then at least a year went by and they kept getting pushed back or they were altogether cancelled and resolicited. One retailer told me that they were cancelled at first because they couldn't hit the threshold of 800 copies of the hardcovers. I was in contact with Checker officials at that time and from what I was told, I do not believe they ever reached the 800 mark with the print runs of BOTH the HCs. They are very rare.
But, all that aside, they are really great stories and feature some great artwork by Chris Sprouse, Rick Veitch, Gil Kane, Jim Starlin and many others.
Plus, there is another Alan Moore Supreme-related trade paperback: Judgment Day, which is pretty doggone good, too.
I think the trade paperbacks for all of these can be found relatively cheap. Don't let people on these boards to cause you to miss out on a great comic book experience just because they don't like the print quality, the paper or the binding.

[vark]

Are the regulars issues so hard to find at a reasonable price too?

[md62]

Are the regulars issues so hard to find at a reasonable price too?

Supreme #41-56 are around $4/issue. #52A & 52B are hard to find. The Return #1-4 are around $2/issue. #5 & 6 are around $10/issue.

[Big Bad Voodoo Lou]

Supreme #41-56 are around $4/issue. #52A & 52B are hard to find. The Return #1-4 are around $2/issue. #5 & 6 are around $10/issue.

I think #52A and 52B are rarer and more expensive because the Checker TPBs left out the Veitch-illustrated flashback stories from those issues. I bought them back in the early 2000s when I first heard they weren't included.

I'll second the Judgment Day TPB being required reading, as long as you're tracking down Supreme. It's a superhero courtroom drama that also functions as Alan Moore and a ridiculous roster of artists creating the deep, rich backstory for Rob Liefeld's Awesome Universe, with tons of DC, Marvel, pulp fiction, sci-fi, and fantasy pastiches.

EDITED: The single issues were confusingly labeled as Judgment Day: Alpha, Judgment Day: Omega, Judgment Day: Final Judgment (the three chapters of the main story), Judgment Day: Aftermath (a bunch of stand-alone stories based on key characters set after the main story), and Judgment Day: Sourcebook. All but the Sourcebook were included in the Checker TPB, so I don't remember quite what that one included.

[Mixmaster]

I think Supreme The Story of the Year, The Return and Judgment Day are trade paperbacks that should all occupy the same shelf as Alan Moore's Watchmen, Swamp Thing, V For Vendetta and Miracleman.

[FanboyStranger]

Judgment Day: Aftermath (which wasn't included in the Checker TPB, so I don't remember quite what it included).

It was a bunch of vignettes featuring certain characters moving on from the events of Judgment Day. I really only remember the New Men starting a career as Challengers of the Unknown" style explorers. Basically, it's notable because it's one of Gil Kane's last jobs before he passed away, but certain panels and pages were published out of order, which lead to a very confusing read. (I don't think the out of place panels were intentional like in Nemo: Heart of Ice to explain the time dilation.)

[vark]

Supreme #41-56 are around $4/issue. #52A & 52B are hard to find. The Return #1-4 are around $2/issue. #5 & 6 are around $10/issue.

Thanks for your response. I was a subscriber of those series so I haven't have to chase them afterward.

[icctrombone]

I recently picked up a run of these single issues for a dollar each. If you get them in shows they should be around that price. Places like ebay are a mixed bag with back issues of any book, , with some going for vastly different prices.

[daBronzeBomma]

So I did a little more scouring based on what I've read in this thread.

There seem to be no complaints about the production value of SUPREME: THE RETURN tpb, which is 258 pages long and consistently goes for about $20.00 USD.

The tpb for SUPREME: THE STORY OF THE YEAR is where all the complaints are, and for a tome of 332 pages, there's no consistency in price: Amazon lists it anywhere from a questionable $38.00 USD to an utterly ridiculous $984.37 USD! WTH?

With regard to JUDGEMENT DAY, it appears to a 168 page tpb that is directly connected to Alan Moore's work on Supreme, but is it a capstone to the entire run or just something that is "also there"? It seems to list for an average of around $10.00 USD.

All three tpbs are published by Checker (really should have called themselves "Checkered").

[FanboyStranger]

With regard to JUDGEMENT DAY, it appears to a 168 page tpb that is directly connected to Alan Moore's work on Supreme, but is it a capstone to the entire run or just something that is "also there"? It seems to list for an average of around $10.00 USD.

It's related, but not essential to Supreme. It's more about the overall direction Moore wanted to take the Awesome universe rather than anything specific to do with Supreme. It sets the stage for Moore's Youngblood, which lasted three issues and has never been collected. (And the one issue of Glory, which morphed into Promethia.